Moses and Aaron are here dealing with Pharaoh, to
get leave of him to go and worship in the wilderness. I. They
demand leave in the name of God (ver.
1), and he answers their demand with a defiance of God,
ver. 2. II. They beg leave in
the name of Israel (ver. 3),
and he answers their request with further orders to oppress Israel,
ver. 4-9. These cruel
orders were, 1. Executed by the task-masters, ver. 10-14. 2. Complained of to Pharaoh,
but in vain, ver. 15-19.
3. Complained of by the people to Moses ver. 20, 21), and by him to God, ver. 22, 23.

Sufferings of the Israelites
Increased. (b. c. 1491.)

1 And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and
told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord
God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me
in the wilderness. † 2 And Pharaoh said, Who is the
Lord, that I should obey his voice
to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.

Moses and Aaron, having delivered their
message to the elders of Israel, with whom they found good
acceptance, are now to deal with Pharaoh, to whom they come in
peril of their livesóMoses particularly, who perhaps was
out-lawed for killing the Egyptian forty years before, so that if
any of the old courtiers should happen to remember that against him
now it might cost him his head. Their message itself was
displeasing, and touch Pharaoh both in his honour and in his
profit, two tender points; yet these faithful ambassadors boldly
deliver it, whether he will hear or whether he will forbear.

I. Their demand is piously bold: Thus
saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, v. 1. Moses, in treating with
the elders of Israel, is directed to call God the God of their
fathers; but, in treating with Pharaoh, they call him the
God of Israel, and it is the first time we find him called so
in scripture: he is called the God of Israel, the
person (Gen. xxxiii.
20); but here it is Israel, the people. They are
just beginning to be formed into a people when God is called their
God. Moses, it is likely, was directed to call him so, at least it
might be inferred from ch. ix.
22, Israel is my son. In this great name they
deliver their message: Let my people go. 1. They were God's
people, and therefore Pharaoh ought not to detain them in bondage.
Note, God will own his own people, though ever so poor and
despicable, and will find a time to plead their cause. "The
Israelites are slaves in Egypt, but they are my people," says God,
"and I will not suffer them to be always trampled upon." See
Isa. lii. 4, 5. 2. He
expected services and sacrifices from them, and therefore they must
have leave to go where they could freely exercise their religion,
without giving offence to, or receiving offence from, the
Egyptians. Note, God delivers his people out of the hand of their
enemies, that they may serve him, and serve him cheerfully, that
they may hold a feast to him, which they may do, while they have
his favour and presence, even in a wilderness, a dry and barren
land.

II. Pharaoh's answer is impiously bold:
Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice? v. 2. Being summoned to
surrender, he thus hangs out the flag of defiance, hectors Moses
and the God that sends him, and peremptorily refuses to let Israel
go; he will not treat about it, nor so much as bear the mention of
it. Observe, 1. How scornfully he speaks of the God of Israel:
"Who is Jehovah? I neither know him nor care for him,
neither value him nor fear him:" it is a hard name that he never
heard of before, but he resolves it shall be no bug-bear to him.
Israel was now a despised oppressed people, looked on as the tail
of the nation, and, by the character they bore, Pharaoh makes his
estimate of their God, and concludes that he made no better a
figure among the gods than his people did among the nations. Note,
Hardened persecutors are more malicious against God himself than
they are against his people. See Isa.
xxxvii. 23. Again, Ignorance and contempt of God are at
the bottom of all the wickedness that is in the world. Men know not
the Lord, or have very low and mean thoughts of him, and therefore
they obey not his voice, nor will let any thing go for him. 2. How
proudly he speaks of himself: "That I should obey his voice;
I, the king of Egypt, a great people, obey the God of Israel, a
poor enslaved people? Shall I, that rule the Israel of God, obey
the God of Israel? No, it is below me; I scorn to answer his
summons." Note, Those are the children of pride that are the
children of disobedience, Job xli. 34; Eph. v. 6. Proud men
think themselves too good to stoop even to God himself, and would
not be under control, Jer. xliii.
2. Here is the core of the controversy: God must rule,
but man will not be ruled. "I will have my will done," says God:
"But I will do my own will," says the sinner. 3. How resolutely he
denies the demand: Neither will I let Israel go. Note, Of
all sinners none are so obstinate, nor so hardly persuaded to leave
their sin, as persecutors are.

St-Takla.org Image:
Pharaoh commands the taskmasters of the people and their officers: "You shall no
longer give the people straw to make brick as before. Let them go and gather
straw for themselves" (Exodus 5:6-9)

3 And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met
with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the
desert, and sacrifice unto the Lord
our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword.
† 4 And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye,
Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you unto your
burdens. † 5 And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land
now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens.
† 6 And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the
people, and their officers, saying, † 7 Ye shall no more give
the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and
gather straw for themselves. † 8 And the tale of the bricks,
which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall
not diminish ought thereof: for they be idle;
therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our
God. † 9 Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they
may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words.

Finding that Pharaoh had no veneration at
all for God, Moses and Aaron next try whether he had any compassion
for Israel, and become humble suitors to him for leave to go and
sacrifice, but in vain.

I. Their request is very humble and modest,
v. 3. They make no
complaint of the rigour they were ruled with. They plead that the
journey they designed was not a project formed among themselves,
but that their God had met with them, and called them to it. They
beg with all submission: We pray thee. The poor useth
entreaties; though God may summon princes that oppress, it becomes
us to beseech and make supplication to them. What they ask is very
reasonable, only for a short vacation, while they went three days'
journey into the desert, and that on a good errand, and
unexceptionable: "We will sacrifice unto the Lord our God,
as other people do to theirs;" and, lastly, they give a very
good reason, "Lest, if we quite cast off his worship, he fall upon
us with one judgment or other, and then Pharaoh will lose his
vassals."

St-Takla.org Image:
Drudgery of the children of Israel (Exodus 5:10-14)

II. Pharaoh's denial of their request is
very barbarous and unreasonable, v. 4-9.

1. His suggestions were very unreasonable.
(1.) That the people were idle, and that therefore they talked of
going to sacrifice. The cities they built for Pharaoh, and the
other fruit of their labours, were witnesses for them that they
were not idle; yet he thus basely misrepresents them, that he might
have a pretence to increase their burdens. (2.) That Moses and
Aaron made them idle with vain words, v. 9. God's words are here called vain
words; and those that called them to the best and most needful
business are accused of making them idle. Note, The malice of Satan
has often represented the service and worship of God as fit
employment for those only that have nothing else to do, and the
business only of the idle; whereas indeed it is the indispensable
duty of those that are most busy in the world.

2. His resolutions hereupon were most
barbarous. (1.) Moses and Aaron themselves must get to their
burdens (v. 4);
they are Israelites, and, however God had distinguished them from
the rest, Pharaoh makes no difference: they must share in the
common slavery of their nation. Persecutors have always taken a
particular pleasure in putting contempt and hardship upon the
ministers of the churches. (2.) The usual tale of bricks must be
exacted, without the usual allowance of straw to mix with the clay,
or to burn the bricks with, that thus more work might be laid upon
the men, which if they performed, they would be broken with labour;
and, if not, they would be exposed to punishment.

10 And the taskmasters of the people went out,
and their officers, and they spake to the people, saying, Thus
saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw. † 11 Go ye, get you
straw where ye can find it: yet not ought of your work shall be
diminished. † 12 So the people were scattered abroad
throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of
straw. † 13 And the taskmasters hasted them, saying,
Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was
straw. † 14 And the officers of the children of Israel, which
Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and
demanded, Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick
both yesterday and to day, as heretofore?

St-Takla.org Image:
The elders of the children of Israel complain to Pharaoh (Exodus 5:15-19)

Pharaoh's orders are here put in execution;
straw is denied, and yet the work not diminished. 1. The Egyptian
task-masters were very severe. Pharaoh having decreed unrighteous
decrees, the task-masters were ready to write the grievousness that
he had prescribed, Isa. x.
1. Cruel princes will never want cruel instruments to be
employed under them, who will justify them in that which is most
unreasonable. These task-masters insisted upon the daily tasks, as
when there was straw, v.
13. See what need we have to pray that we may be
delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, 2 Thess. iii. 2. The enmity of the serpent's
seed against the seed of the woman is such as breaks through all
the laws of reason, honour, humanity, and common justice. 2. The
people hereby were dispersed throughout all the land of Egypt, to
gather stubble, v.
12. By this means Pharaoh's unjust and barbarous usage
of them came to be known to all the kingdom, and perhaps caused
them to be pitied by their neighbours, and made Pharaoh's
government less acceptable even to his own subjects: good-will is
never got by persecution. 3. The Israelite-officers were used with
particular harshness, v.
14. Those that were the fathers of the houses of Israel
paid dearly for their honour; for from them immediately the service
was exacted, and they were beaten when it was not performed. See
here, (1.) What a miserable thing slavery is, and what reason we
have to be thankful to God that we are a free people, and not
oppressed. Liberty and property are valuable jewels in the eyes of
those whose services and possessions lie at the mercy of an
arbitrary power. (2.) What disappointments we often meet with after
the raising of our expectations. The Israelites were now lately
encouraged to hope for enlargement, but behold greater distresses.
This teaches us always to rejoice with trembling. (3.) What strange
steps God sometimes takes in delivering his people; he often brings
them to the utmost straits when he is just ready to appear for
them. The lowest ebbs go before the highest tides; and very cloudy
mornings commonly introduce the fairest days, Deut. xxxii. 36. God's time to help is when
things are at the worst; and Providence verifies the paradox,
The worse the better.

St-Takla.org Image:
The elders of the children of Israel complain to Moses (Exodus 5:20, 21)

15 Then the officers of the children of Israel
came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore dealest thou thus
with thy servants? † 16 There is no straw given unto thy
servants, and they say to us, Make brick: and, behold, thy servants
are beaten; but the fault is in thine own people.
† 17 But he said, Ye are idle, ye are idle:
therefore ye say, Let us go and do sacrifice to the Lord. † 18 Go therefore now,
and work; for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall
ye deliver the tale of bricks. † 19 And the officers of the
children of Israel did see that they were in evil
case, after it was said, Ye shall not minish ought
from your bricks of your daily task. † 20 And they met Moses
and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they came forth from Pharaoh:
† 21 And they said unto them, The Lord look upon you, and judge; because ye have
made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the
eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us.
† 22 And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou
so evil entreated this people? why is it that
thou hast sent me? † 23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak
in thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou
delivered thy people at all.

It was a great strait that the head-workmen
were in, when they must either abuse those that were under them or
be abused by those that were over them; yet, it should seem, rather
than they would tyrannize, they would be tyrannized over; and they
were so. In this evil case (v.
19), observe,

I. How justly they complained to Pharaoh:
They came and cried unto Pharaoh, v. 15. Whither should they go with a
remonstrance of their grievances but to the supreme power, which is
ordained for the protection of the injured? As bad as Pharaoh was
his oppressed subjects had liberty to complain to him; there was no
law against petitioning: it was a very modest, but moving,
representation that they made of their condition (v. 16): Thy servants are
beaten (severely enough, no doubt, when things were in such a
ferment), and yet the fault is in thy own people, the
task-masters, who deny us what is necessary for carrying on our
work. Note, It is common for those to be most rigorous in blaming
others who are most blameworthy themselves. But what did they get
by this complaint? It did but make bad worse. 1. Pharaoh taunted
them (v. 17); when
they were almost killed with working, he told them they were idle:
they underwent the fatigue of industry, and yet lay under the
imputation of slothfulness, while nothing appeared to ground the
charge upon but this, that they said, Let us go and do
sacrifice. Note, It is common for the best actions to be
mentioned under the worst names; holy diligence in the best
business is censured by many as a culpable carelessness in the
business of the world. It is well for us that men are not to be our
judges, but a God who knows what the principles are on which we
act. Those that are diligent in doing sacrifice to the Lord will,
with God, escape the doom of the slothful servant, though, with
men, they do not. 2. He bound on their burdens: Go now and
work. v. 18.
Note, Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked; what can be expected
from unrighteous men but more unrighteousness?

II. How unjustly they complained of Moses
and Aaron: The Lord look upon you, and judge, v. 21. This was not fair. Moses
and Aaron had given sufficient evidence of their hearty good-will
to the liberties of Israel; and yet, because things succeed not
immediately as they hoped, they are reproached as accessaries to
their slavery. They should have humbled themselves before God, and
taken to themselves the shame of their sin, which turned away good
things from them; but, instead of this, they fly in the face of
their best friends, and quarrel with the instruments of their
deliverance, because of some little difficulties and obstructions
they met with in effecting it, and you can find
more about that here on
st-takla.org on other commentaries and
dictionary entries. Note, Those that are called out to
public service for God and their generation must expect to be
tried, not only by the malicious threats of proud enemies, but by
the unjust and unkind censures of unthinking friends, who judge
only by outward appearance and look but a little way before them.
Now what did Moses do in this strait? It grieved him to the heart
that the event did not answer, but rather contradict, his
expectation; and their upbraidings were very cutting, and like a
sword in his bones; but, 1. He returned to the Lord (v. 22), to acquaint him with
it, and to represent the case to him: he knew that what he had said
and done was by divine direction; and therefore what blame is laid
upon him for it he considers as reflecting upon God, and, like
Hezekiah, spreads it before him as interested in the cause, and
appeals to him. Compare this with Jer. xx. 7-9. Note, When we find ourselves,
at any time, perplexed and embarrassed in the way of our duty, we
ought to have recourse to God, and lay open our case before him by
faithful and fervent prayer. If we retreat, let us retreat to him,
and no further. 2. He expostulated with him, v. 22, 23. He knew not how to
reconcile the providence with the promise and the commission which
he had received. "Is this God's coming down to deliver Israel? Must
I, who hoped to be a blessing to them, become a scourge to them? By
this attempt to get them out of the pit, they are but sunk the
deeper into it." Now he asks, (1.) Wherefore hast thou so evil
entreated this people? Note, Even when God is coming towards
his people in ways of mercy, he sometimes takes such methods as
that they may think themselves but ill treated. The instruments of
deliverance, when they aim to help, are found to hinder, and that
becomes a trap which, it was hoped, would have been for their
welfare, God suffering it to be so that we may learn to cease from
man, and may come off from a dependence upon second causes. Note,
further, When the people of God think themselves ill treated, they
should go to God by prayer, and plead with him, and that is the way
to have better treatment in God's good time. (2.) Why is it thou
hast sent me? Thus, [1.] He complains of his ill success:
"Pharaoh has done evil to this people, and not one step seems to be
taken towards their deliverance." Note, It cannot but sit very
heavily upon the spirits of those whom God employs for him to see
that their labour does no good, and much more to see that it does
hurt eventually, though not designedly. It is uncomfortable to a
good minister to perceive that his endeavours for men's conviction
and conversion do but exasperate their corruptions, confirm their
prejudices, harden their hearts, and seal them up under unbelief.
This makes them go in the bitterness of their souls, as the
prophet, Ezek. 3. 14. Or,
[2.] He enquires what was further to be done: Why hast thou sent
me? that is, "What other method shall I take in pursuance of my
commission?" Note, Disappointments in our work must not drive us
from our God, but still we must consider why we are sent.